Simply the Best

Tina Turner famously sung:

You’re simply the best
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I’ve ever met.

This weekend seems to have been about being ‘Simply the Best’…

Saturday was the first semi-final of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. We watched singers, dancers, illusionists and entertainers attempting to show the judges and the voting public that they are ‘Simply the Best’.

Sunday morning was the London Marathon. Some of the world’s best athletes raced. Records were broken, personal best times recorded, charities publicised and supported. Jamie Campbell from Southend, dressed as a shrimp, broke the world record for running a marathon in a crustacean costume. Simply the Best.

Sunday afternoon Liverpool beat Spurs 5-1 to win the Premier League. There was deserved praise for players, manager, fans and club. In English football this year, Liverpool are Simply the Best.

We see the desire to be Simply the Best in sporting events, TV game shows, school tests, pub quizzes, family board games… We like awards, certificates, prizes that demonstrate and celebrate our best-ness. Even failure or loss are seen positively as learning opportunities or motivation for improvement, to eventually become Simply the Best.

The weekend was dominated by the funeral of Pope Francis, who many would say was ‘Simply the Best’… not because of what he’d won or achieved, but because of who he was.

He spent his life fighting for the poor, the outcast, the immigrant, the underdog. He lived with humility, tolerance and understanding… with compassion, kindness and empathy.

The danger with being Simply the Best is that it’s about winning, at the expense of those who are either ‘Simply not the Best’ or ‘Simply the Worst’.

Pope Francis embraced and demonstrated the Christian paradox: To be Simply the Best I’m not a successful competitor or a victorious winner; rather I identify with those who have nothing, I’m attentive to and speak for those without a voice, I’m the foot-washing servant.